Picture-holder



(No Model.)

A. D. STEWART.

PICTURE HOLDER.

No. 478,478 Patented July 5, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR D. STEWART, OF ITHAC'A, NEW YORK.

PICTURE-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,478, dated July 5, 1892.

Application filed April 4, 1892. Serial No. 427,739- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR D. STEWART, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Picture-Holders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention is in card and photograph holders intended for the table or wall, suitable devices (not shown) being provided for supporting the device upon a horizontal or vertical surface, as may be desired.

In the drawings, Figure 1 isa front view of the device. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are like views of amodification. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the springplate of Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 6 is a further modification.

In Figs. 1 and 2, A is a bar, preferably of wood, that may be of any desired length, and may be provided with any suitable attachments whereby it may stand more or less inclined upon a table or the like, or with devices adapted for suspending it in analogous positions upon a wall. The bar is provided at intervals with slots B, passing obliquely downward and inward from the same edge.

0 is a spring-wire loop, preferably of a width very much greater thanthe thickness of the bar and of a length greater than the depth of the slot. This loop is placed in the slot with its plane at right angle to the plane of the bar and so that its sides may be symmetrical with reference to the bar. Its parallel ends are then brought together and sprung down upon the edge of the bar above the slot and securely fastenedfor example, by staples D. Now it is evident that the elasticity of the wire throws the lower part of the loop against the front side of the slot, and that as the width of the slot is greater than the diameter of the Wire it may be sprung away from that wall. If then photographs be forced into the slot in front of the loop,-as suggested by the dotted lines of Fig. 1, they will be securely held, and as the slots and loops are duplicated at suitable intervals the whole bar except only the partbelow the lower slot-may be concealed. The cards are inserted and removed with the greatest facility and may be greatly varied in number and relative position. In Figs. 3 and 4 the loop is replaced by a springplate of similar outline. The action of this form is similar; but for holding the corners only of cards the plate has obvious advantages.

- The slot may have any desired inclination, and indeed its front. wall may be simply a thin plate E, Fig. 6, secured to the edge of the bar.

What I claim is 1. A card or picture holder consisting of a bar slotted inward and downward from one edge, and a spring secured to the bar lying within the slot and pressing against the wall thereof by its elastic force.

2. A bar slotted obliquely inward from one edge, combined with a spring secured to the bar lying in the slot and exerting a yielding pressure against the wall thereof.

3. The bar slotted obliquely inward from one edge at a plurality of points and an equal number of spring-loops lying in the slots, respectivel y, and each secured to the bar above the slot in which it lies, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the bar provided with the slots in one edge, of the spring-loops wider than the bar lying in the slots, respectively, and each having its projecting end bent and fixed against the edge of the bar above the slot in which it lies, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR 'D. STEWART. Witnesses:

GEO. L. PRICE, CLIFTON PRICE. 

